Standing on the central podium erected in the middle of the large gathering ground that was now filled with people milling around and waiting for her to arrive and kick off the gathering, the Queen took in a large breath.
Looking around her, she could see many, many people with s.h.i.+ning eyes that were fixed on the place that she was supposed to soon appear.
They had already enjoyed the food, and the incredible luxuries all set up for them, and now, they were only waiting for the main event to begin.
What they all didn"t know… Was that she was already standing there, and that she had cast an invisibility spell on herself to hide from the crazy eyes of the tens of thousands of people around her.
The predetermined time was quickly approaching, and right now, she was slightly in a panicked state as suddenly, the King and all of his subordinates were missing.
She didn"t know where there were, and neither did her spies, but she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart by telling herself that she had already accounted for each and every possibility that she could think of.
If anyone saw her, they would never believe that she was a veteran commander who had been through hundreds of battles.
In fact, she could even hear the silent question of the little girl in her head regarding the same thing while her heartbeat returned to normal.
The poor girl had felt her mood, and she had kept quiet as she knew that Arafell could get quite irritable if she was disturbed in crucial moments.
Feeling a bit sorry for her, she said, "Are you wondering why I"m acting like this even though I"m supposed to have been through many, many similarly stressful situations?"
At first, she was startled, but after that, she replied, "Not at all, My Queen! I"m just…"
"In the same way that you can feel my emotions, I can feel yours. And I can always tell when you have a question that you"re burning to ask. The answer… Is that I always forcibly put myself in this mindset before each and every battle. According to the Emperor, this is why I win most of the time."
"…"
Arafell knew that she hadn"t given a complete answer, but still, the awkward silence that followed made her chuckle, which broke the tension in the atmosphere.
Pitying the poor girl whose inquisitive nature had always been something that was occasionally irritating but mostly fun to see, she continued.
"That is because there is no commander more foolish than one who believes that his plan is perfect, and that there is no way that he can be beaten. Such a commander…will have lost the battle even before it begins."
She paused again, but this time, it wasn"t for her amus.e.m.e.nt.
No, it was because she was reminiscing about the times during the Empire, and the man who had stolen her heart and never given it back.
Today, for some reason, she found herself remembering him a lot.
"But… Isn"t that what we should tell ourselves? I was till now, and I thought you were, too."
Shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts, she answered, "That"s true, but I only do that so that I can think about everything, and see whether I missed something. But eventually, no matter what plan anyone makes, in war, things can change in ways that cannot be accounted for. And this IS war, and that King is one of the smartest foes I"ve ever faced. However, I do trust in our preparations, so let"s see what he"ll do."
With this, the little girl fell quiet again.
Arafell also took a few more deep breaths and prepared to reveal herself, but suddenly, a message was transmitted by the minister who handled the spies.
"My Queen, we have detected six individuals entering the gathering in disguises. They aren"t using very complicated disguises, so we were able to detect that they are the Grand Court Mage of Lanthanor, the King"s father, the King of the Black Raven Kingdom, the two commanders of Lanthanor- one present, one ex, and, finally, the close friend of the King. They entered from different directions, and they"re trying to mix into the crowd. Should they be stopped and thrown out? It has also been detected that they are not carrying any trinkets above the Warrior level."
What? They were entering so brazenly?
Arafell considered whether she should really do so, but she suddenly realized what would happen if she tried.
Each of these individuals was supposed to be quite powerful, and it might cause a scuffle that could escalate into something more.
Besides, she knew about that woman in Lanthanor who handled the Network. With her intellect, it was quite possible that she would also spin this to show that Arafell was afraid, and that she was not sticking to her promise of allowing everyone into the gathering.
So, she chose the only option left, as she still did not see how her plan could be disrupted, especially because they weren"t carrying any complicated trinkets. Even though the foremost trinket makers could create trinkets capable of casting spells beyond their level, there was nothing even in the Champion level that could threaten her. She had set up a trinket detecting formation to counter against the King if he tried to smuggle in high-level trinkets, and it looked like it had worked out quite well.
"Keep a close eye on them, and notify me right away if they do something funny. Any word on the King?"
"None, my Queen. Our eyes are peeled."
Frowning, Arafell tried to put all of this out of her head.
Soon enough, it was time for the gathering to begin, so Arafell once again went through the entire tome of Enthrallment that she had already researched for decades.
Still, it never hurt to prepare oneself before an important event.
As soon as the invisibility spell lifted along with bursts of fireworks appearing above her to draw everyone"s focus, a deafening roar a.s.saulted the area where the gathering was taking place, almost as if it had come under attack by an endless army.
However, this was simply the sound created by the thousands of people who had all been waiting for days to get another glimpse of the Queen who had completely captivated their minds.
The podium had formations which made three 20-foot tall giant-sized transparent versions of her to appear facing three directions so that she could be visible to all, even if they were far away. Wearing a golden dress of the same fas.h.i.+on as the one she had donned during the address, she made many people"s minds go blank as they just stood up and stared.
The other function of the Enthrallment arts that Arafell had used was that weak-minded individuals would directly come under her spell even though there was no spell being cast. Granted, this would have been true due to her beauty even if she hadn"t been using the arts, but they guaranteed that that would definitely be the outcome.
Once again putting on the arts on full display, she welcomed everyone and began the speech she had already prepared.
In it, she spoke at length about how amazing their lives would be if they joined Arafell, and that she would be present for each and every one of them whenever they needed their Queen. This, in itself, gave rise to such a roar of approval that it almost drowned out her voice.
Of course, most of those roaring were those who had already been brainwashed by her emissaries into "admiring" her.
She went on to speak about the Giants, and how they would become family members of all those entering the kingdom, just like how they were right now for all the Arafellians.
Certain hand-picked citizens who were also present vouched for this, and then, the speech moved on to other topics such as a few schemes like tax benefits for newly joining citizens that she had decided to announce at this gathering to pull in even more people who might be on the fence, and to make all those from the Big Four who were watching believe that there was nothing, at all, out at place.
Yet, during each and every second of the speech, a small part of her kept waiting for some news regarding the king, and with each second that pa.s.sed without any such news, the tension she felt grew more and more.
Soon, she reached the point in her speech where the Enthrallment had done its part - she could see that many who had arrived just out of curiosity were also almost fully convinced to choose Arafell, so she prepared to end the speech as there was such a thing as doing too much, and ruining the effects of what she had already done.
Right at that moment, she felt something, and gazed up at a certain spot in the sky.
Her heart froze in her chest, and her eyebrows rose as far as they could go.
As her beautiful lips mumbled a single word, she wondered whether she was dreaming.
…
10 seconds ago.
"Stand by. She will be ending her speech soon."
As soon as this message was received by the sovereigns who had mixed themselves in the crowds, they all undertook different kinds of actions, but with a common theme.
Elanev had been happily chewing on some skewers he had gotten from a stall nearby, so he had to grudgingly stop munching and take out the trinket from his pocket.
Robert had been carefully studying the expressions and the eyes of those around him, but he had been alert, so he instantly made a small motion with his hand to make the trinket drop down from where he had been discreetly hiding it in the crook of his arm.
Kellor had been zoning out, studying a spell that he had recently devised, but as soon as he got the message, he also took out the trinket from his pocket and prepared to activate it.
A random man who had been paying close attention to the Queen"s gigantic image suddenly got startled as he saw someone step out from the shadow and look as if he had just teleported there. Of course, this was Luther, who had moved in response and was also grasping the trinket in his hand.
And, finally, Aran had been happily relaxing on one of the comfortable coaches laid out, as the rest of those gathered had stood up and were paying close attention to the Queen. Hearing the message, he, too, got up, and gave the signal that he was ready.
Getting all of the signals, Daneel directly teleported to a spot above where the Queen was giving her speech.
After that… He only cast one spell, which was a very, very simple one.
It was… A camouflage spell, but it was a special version where it would affect a small area.
And that area, was exactly where the Queen was standing.
Seeing her expression and the way she acted, a natural, grand smile appeared on his face, and he began to descend.
…
Arafell couldn"t believe it.
The word she had been about to say had become stuck in his throat, and right now, even her jaw had fallen on seeing the man royally descending from the sky.
It was… The Emperor.
"Fenoras…"
This was the word she had mumbled, unable to believe the image reflected in her eyes.
As if summoned by her thoughts, he smiled at her, and even though a small voice in her head kept telling her that this was not possible, at that moment, she believed that it was really him, as the smile on his lips was exactly the same one that used to grace his face whenever he saw something that made him happy.
This was also the smile she had missed in the latter part of his life, as, after the mishap with the Grand Inheritance, all happiness seemed to have disappeared from him. So, it was all the more important and special, and it completely took her breath away.
Dazed, she stood there, while he descended to her side and actually… Touched her hand.
It was as if electricity raced through her entire body, and as he spoke in that deep voice that he had always been known for, she almost shuddered with shock.
"Arafell, you depend on yourself too much. Just try your best, and call for me if you need me."
As she heard this sentence that he had always used to say to her, she couldn"t take it anymore.
All of the emotions she had held deep inside her heart for the millennia she had existed as an Empire Spirit burst out at once, and she sprang forward to hug this man who was everything to her, tight.
DING!
DING!
DING!
DING!
DING!
DING!
At the same moment, the 6 sovereigns all activated the trinkets they were holding, which resulted in loud sounds akin to the ringing of bells echoing out all over the place from where they stood.
These sounds, which were preceded by the image of the one who had "Enthralled" them hugging someone else had caused an effect almost like a "reset" to appear in many of those present, as they blinked their eyes and started to wonder where they were. To them, it was as if the sound had woken them up from a dream.
Seeing this, Kellor beamed while thinking back to what the King had said when he had laid out this plan.
"Enthrallment is not all-powerful, as it also has a very important drawback. It uses the art of completely captivating one"s mind, but what would happen if that person sees their "idol" showing affection for someone else? The effect of the Enthrallment has a likeliness of s.h.i.+fting, because the mind a.s.sociates that other person to be at an equal level as the one that had Enthralled them, due to that show of affection. That was why the ancient one who used this technique during the age of the Empire was a solitary man who trusted no one, and did not allow himself to show even a shred of affection to any being, living or dead."
Here, he had paused, before setting his eyes on each and every one of them before speaking his mind.
In those eyes, Kellor had seen a little bit of hesitation, but above that had been the determination that had let the King become the man he was.
"And that…is how we will be reversing the effects of the Queen"s spell. Compounded with a loud sound, many will break out naturally, and it will also not allow any kind of suspicion to arise. Even though I am not too happy about certain aspects of the plan, it is the best one that we can use."